Author: Ina Allkanjari
Palace no. 136 is the only building in the area of "Celqi" street in Kombinat, which has been classified for demolition. Elis Bala, a resident of this building, tells "Sinjalizo" that a few days ago the municipality warned of the demolition of his building and asked the residents to leave the apartments. Bala says that today the case for the demolition of this building has gone to court, as there are also other lawsuits by citizens who are fighting a court battle with the state for the reconstruction process. Although three years have passed since the 2019 earthquake, dozens of Kombinat residents are stuck between unclear contracts, lack of information, inaccurate expertise and court battles with the state. In open lawsuits, citizens affected by the earthquake seek property protection. Until now, the residents of unit no. 6 in the capital have won six court cases in the Administrative Court of First Instance.
" The municipality experts who came and conducted the verifications concluded that the building is not for demolition, but the cost of repair exceeds 70%. This is why they decided that it is more profitable to build a new one than to repair it. In reality, it is already known that buildings that are being demolished will no longer be built where they were," says Bala, emphasizing that they have received a certificate that the building is in court so that they can be sure that it will not collapse.
What the residents of this building are looking for is a revaluation of the building, so that it is not demolished but reconstructed.
"We received the status of the DS4 building in November 2021, we received the decision of the Municipal Council that the building will be demolished. We had a year to take it to court, we finally succeeded. We are waiting for an expert from the court to come and when he does the expertise we will see what will happen. We hope to stay where we are and simply have a reconstruction done," Elis Bala, a resident of building no. 136 in Kombinat, tells 'Sinjalizo'.
Building no. 157, located at the entrance to the Combine, is another object designated for demolition by decision of the Municipal Council. So far, two lawsuits have been filed in court for this building. One of them was won in the first instance against the municipality of Tirana, proving that the damage to this building is not such as to allow the collapse.
Meanwhile, the resident who filed the second lawsuit, who prefers to remain anonymous, tells 'Sinjalizo' that this court process is also nearing completion.
" I have had two hearings and the court experts have come and verified it, they have followed the same procedure. It is the same throughout the Complex where the aim is to demolish the old buildings and demolish them, move the residents to another place and build new buildings there. This is property theft, they are not doing us any honor because we have the building very well", says the resident of building no. 157 in the Complex.
The Tirana City Council, based on the in-depth expertise and the conclusion of the technical opposition of the Institute of Construction, has designated these buildings as damage level DS4, while the experts determined in court have assessed them as level DS2 or DS3, which means reconstruction and not collapse .
" All these buildings have been assigned the DS4 level and in all cases, according to the Municipality of Tirana and the Construction Institute, the cost of repair has been very high. So it exceeded more than 70% of the value if the building were built from scratch. This is also the legal criterion for whether or not the building should be demolished. In cases where the court has decided to conduct a re-examination, the same buildings have come out with a DS2 or DS3 damage level ," lawyer Dorian Matlija tells 'Sinjalizo'.
In cases where the building has damage level DS2 or DS3, the building must not be demolished, but the family members are given a reconstruction grant. Specifically, if the level of damage is DS2, they benefit from 200 thousand new lek per family, if it is DS3, they benefit from 500 thousand new lek per family, to repair the damage themselves. This is because there are no such damages that interfere with the structure.
" In the won trials, it has resulted that the cost of the repair has been fictitiously increased, while the cost of the construction has been fictitiously reduced, making it seem as if it is economically unprofitable to repair the building. I have encountered this typology in all the trials I have attended, not only in those that have been won but also in those that are in process, the experts have said the same thing before the court ," the lawyer says.
Regarding the reconstruction process in this area, the municipality of Tirana declares to 'Sinjalizo' through the Directorate of Civil Emergencies, emphasizing that 28 buildings have been demolished in Kombinat, while 9 buildings are currently in the judicial process.
" Following the above-mentioned letter, which requests information about the Reconstruction process in the Combine as a result of the earthquake that occurred in November 2019, we would like to inform you that: In Administrative Unit No. 6, 28 buildings have been demolished so far. 3 buildings are in the demolition process (the reason for not demolishing them is the resistance of the residents). 9 buildings are in court proceedings ," writes the Directorate of Civil Emergencies.
Citizens in the hands of the court
Lawyer Dorian Matlija says that in the Kombinat area, in total, the Municipality of Tirana has decided to demolish 41 buildings, of which 20 cases have gone to court. Meanwhile, the trials won so far are six, of which the last 2 were won in October.
" Of the 66 buildings that we have found throughout Tirana, 41 are in the Kombinat that have been set for demolition. Currently, there are 6 processes closed in the first instance, with full acceptance of the lawsuit, the others are still in process. The municipality has not won any trial ," said the lawyer.
Uncertainty about the reconstruction process
The combine continues to be problematic in terms of the collapse of buildings or even the ruins that you find almost everywhere.
One of the collapsed buildings that was declared uninhabitable after the 2019 earthquake is that no. 160. Bukurie Sulko tells 'Sinjalizo' that her parents lived in this building, but after the earthquake they were kicked out of the apartment after receiving an order to demolish it.
" After the earthquake, the parents were evicted from the house by the police, after they ordered it to be demolished. From the beginning, the procedures were not in order, as they evicted the parents from the house without giving them any contract to sign about what would happen to the apartment, where it would be built, or for how long," said Ms. Bukurie, emphasizing that this apartment was registered in the name of her sister's family.
She says that her sister also had another apartment next to building no. 160, in which her sister's daughter lived, and although there was no damage from the earthquake, it was decided to demolish it. "Adjacent to building no. 160 was the extension that they initially told us would not collapse, there was the apartment of her sister's daughter, about 80 square meters, and the entrance was a separate staircase, it was with regular letters. At first, the engineers said it was undamaged, later they came and demolished that too."
Although her sister lost two apartments because they were designated for demolition, Ms. Bukurie is concerned that the process of benefiting from demolished properties will not be fair.
" There were two houses with mortgages, if they are to be demolished, that's fine, but to connect us with the construction company, to take the apartments we had, where we had them. This is open theft, the land is ours. Moreover, why do we have to go to the village, from there to the TEC, who will be given that land that we have in the Combine. People have been lied to because they have been told that they will get 2-3 houses, while they will be social houses and will have other problems", says Mrs. Bukurie in revolt.
Meanwhile, Alketa, a resident of building no. 158 in Kombinat, which also collapsed after being classified as uninhabitable, tells 'Sinjalizo' that she is still living on rent without having any information about what will happen.
" I live in a rented house, they told us that until the buildings are built we will live in rent, but we are not seeing anything concrete yet. I was a resident of building no. 158, on "Llambi Bonata" street. My parents have contributed like all the residents to the construction of that building since October 21, 1975. Until the day that earthquake happened, we lived there. Last year on October 26, they demolished the building," said Alketa.
Asked if they have information about where and when the building that will benefit their apartment will be built, Alketa says that they have no information and have not yet signed any contract for this.
In relation to the contracts that the municipality has offered to the residents of Kombinati, whose buildings have been designated for demolition, lawyer Dorian Matlija says that they have the same model as in the case of 'May 5'.
"The contract they are offered is a standard contract that is unclear about the time or where they will receive the apartment. Above all, let's not forget that not everyone benefits, but only those who do not have another apartment. Also, the shops do not benefit anything. So the concept is such that the state provides housing opportunities. So practically those who are receiving are being assessed as homeless, of a priority category. But this would be valid if those buildings that had to be demolished were really damaged so much," the lawyer said.
The palaces built in Kombinat
In the new neighborhood in Kombinat, the foundations have been laid and the first buildings are being built where the families of the area will be housed, which were left without a home after the earthquake of November 2019. So far, the foundations have been laid for the first 5 buildings, 4 of which are built. Edmon Cata, a resident of the Kombinati area, says that one of the buildings located near the street "Enriko Teli" was built on swamp land.
The CombinArt project
The "KombiArt" project was presented by the mayor Erion Veliaj on July 7, 2020 through 3D images. According to this plan, the area of 1.5 million m2 in the Kombinat area will be used for construction with the purpose of housing 21 thousand individuals, including the residents affected by the November 2019 earthquake.
Residents of the area raise concerns that this project was determined before the 2019 earthquake and the earthquake is being used to implement development plans determined earlier.
" Therefore, in many buildings, the cost of intervention was deliberately calculated at over 70% so that the building would not be repaired but would be demolished and rebuilt from scratch. The same thing happened in the building where I live, no. 146, where the decision of the Administrative Court of First Instance determined that it would not be demolished," said Edmon Cata, a resident of Kombinat.
The same thing is repeated by a citizen, resident of building no. 157.
"Now they will sell the entrances that will be built, because no one will live there. This is unfair, they move you and build," the resident accuses .
According to lawyer Dorian Matlija, if an object does not have a high level of damage and collapses in an abusive manner, then the cause is not the earthquake, but the state is collapsing it through manipulation.
" In these cases, residents have the right to compensation, those who have destroyed their apartments or even shops. Everyone whose building has been destroyed without right, if they take the case to court and win, will receive compensation," said lawyer Matlija.
